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For most soccer game fans, it goes without saying that Winning Eleven is one of the best titles around. Since the PSP's launch nearly a year ago, EA has held down exclusivity for soccer games in North America. Hardly a publisher to be deterred, Konami has started up a rivalry on Sony's handheld that mirrors the same one that has been going on for years on home consoles. Winning Eleven 9 is the opening salvo in what will be a long battle to see who can deliver the best soccer experience to the PSP.

Although FIFA 06 got lost in the Q4 shuffle of our reviews radar, it was certainly an improved experience over the launch version that release shortly after the PSP hardware. With a minigame that forced players to turn the system vertically to play and infrastructure play, FIFA 06 has been the best soccer game on PSP up to this point. While EA's game still has its merits, Winning Eleven 9 gets almost everything right in its attempt to re-create the console experience in a handheld.

So, what's Winning Eleven 9 like on PSP? The overly simplistic answer is "a lot like the PS2 version." But that's just a way of glibly glossing over the real details. Yes, it looks a lot like the console title. Yes, the controls are really good. And yes, you can upload all of your altered stadium names, rosters, and clubs from the PS2 to the PSP version, thus saving yourself hours of editing the name of every player on Serbia & Montenegro.

It's a strongly loyal port of the PlayStation 2 game, but not with the degree of faithfulness that, say, SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 for PSP had toward the console game. Of course, as a result, while it has the long load times of a PSP port, it does not have the "bake a cake" lengths of THQ's wrestling opus, which has become the gold standard of both a faithful console port and an example of how that faithfulness sometimes comes out in minute-long loading screens. So, yes, if there's any major drawback to the title, it most certainly lies in the amount of time it takes to fire up a game.

However, once a game starts, it's nearly impossible to put down if you're a soccer fan. Anyone who's put in any time on a WE title will be quite impressed with Konami's translation is exceedingly faithful, from the opening cinematics to the overall presentation. Visually, Winning Eleven has never beaten FIFA in the looks department. It's never had the excessive attention to detail that EA has. However, considering how well the visuals on the PSP game stick to those on the home console, WE 9 is a great looking game, at least until it's time for a free kick from your opponent. If there is any drawback, it's that the framerate suffers at its worst when an opponent is lined up for a kick. Suddenly, everything slows down dramatically. It's not a frequent occurrence, but it's a significantly noticeable one.